It's official, I'm in the 2009 race

A list has appeared of those whose entries have been accepted for the 2009 WHW race and I'm very relieved to see that my name has appeared there. Not that I had big doubts that it would, but I had some payment problems on-line and Dario (the race organiser) has had his mail system die on him right at busiest moment of the year. To lose your email access right at the start of entries for an event like this might be a race organiser's worst nightmare. Hopefully it'll get sorted soon but I dare say it's going to cause him some further anguish even when it is sorted if he has more entries than places (as seems very likely). Trying to allocate places on a "first come, first served" basis when all the entries arrive in one big lump may prove a real headache. It'll no doubt seem funny in hindsight (maybe not for a few years though) but right now I really feel for the poor guy.

Meanwhile, I'm delighted to see so many familiar faces amongst the race entries, particularly those who had unhappy experiences this year. I hope that they can put this year's experiences behind them and have a great race in 2009. I've just been having a peek at Vicky Little's blog who amazingly only started running in 2006 and is now looking for a place in the WHW race next year! She had a good run in the Devil O' the Highlands and has entered next year's Fling. I really hope she gets a place.

I suppose I did my first "WHW09" training run on Tuesday, an easy 8 miler. Last night I was running the Kilmarnock 5m trail race through Dean park. This was my first race since the WHW race and given my lack of any sort of training I wasn't too unhappy with my time (33:58/59). It's a hilly little course (although truth be told, probably nearer 4.7 than 5 miles) and suited my present preference for hills over flat running. I wore my "Skins" short tights which I think helped with my niggly hamstring. Certainly, it's not giving me any grief today and the race doesn't seem to have done me any harm. All being well, I'll be doing a 25ish mile run on the River Ayr Way tomorrow which will probably be my longest run before the River Ayr Way race in September.